Monday, September 22, 1997 Mailing lists snare music fans on the
Web INTERNET: Bulletin board system allows music fans to share news
with others
By Mike Prevatt
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Music has always been a huge presence on the Internet. Both
artists and their fanatical followers have looked to websites to
display pictures, song clips, lyrics, news and tour information as
sort of a fan’s headquarters.
Chat rooms allow computer users and music adorers all over the
world to discuss the happenings of certain performers and issues.
Music magazines such as Addicted to Noise and on-line versions of
Rolling Stone, Spin and New Music Express, as well as websites for
radio stations and MTV, have furthered music’s dominance on the
Internet.
However, there is another presence on the Internet that has
steadily gained popularity through the past few years. The Internet
mailing list, a combined pseudo-chat room and bulletin board used
through e-mail, serves as a way for fans to communicate daily about
certain artists and to trade bits of information and collectibles.
Bands have posted on them. Fans have maintained underground bootleg
rings through them. And professors have even modeled their own
mailing lists after these open-forum lists (including UCLA
musicology professor James Westby).
"People always like to talk about subjects that is of their own
interest," says Michael Bakker, who helps maintain the mailing
lists for such superstars as Melissa Etheridge, Teddy Riley and
Prince. "On a mailing list, they can talk for hours about their
favorite artist."
Getting involved is easy. After obtaining the list manager’s
e-mail address from a website or fan club, a computer user sends a
message with the word "subscribe" in the body. Either a daily
digest will appear at midnight full of that day’s posts, or posts
come as each individual list member sends them. One can send a post
using the list’s e-mail address, either giving an opinion on an
issue or album, informing the list on breaking news or offering
their taping services.
All sorts of artists, ranging from Oasis and Pulp to Metallica
and Weezer, have mailing lists. Wire, the U2 mailing list, has a
big population on the Internet. With over 4,000 members lurking in
cyberspace (with about 50 to 100 posting daily, some on multiple
instances), Wire is a worldwide organization that does everything
from offering its members up-to-the-second news on U2 and other
noteworthy rock groups, to collecting money for one of U2’s
favorite charities, Amnesty International.
Five months before the release of this year’s "Pop," a Hungarian
fan displayed his web address on Wire that contained unfinished
songs U2 was working on. It was the first instance of piracy on the
Internet, where thousands of fans downloaded snippets of
"Discotheque" and "Wake Up Dead Man." The Internet "bootlegging"
incident caused a media sensation worldwide.
Wire represents many things to the "Wirelings" that make it
up.
"It’s amusing how Wire seems eerily turned-in to everything U2
does," says 20-year-old Anna "Aingeal" Hight, from Fall River,
Mass., and one of the most popular and outspoken members of Wire.
"It’s a highly valuable source of information. What’s entertaining
is that unlike regular news, you get a human aspect as well. It
makes it more personal, as this is a personal band, and that’s how
it should be."
Other "Wirelings" see Wire more cynically, in light of the
heated arguments and misinformation. "Wire is a soap opera that
every once in a while tells you something useful," says Kevin
Campisi, 28, from Abbeville, La. "Just like most soap operas center
around a hospital, but have very little to do with the hospital
itself, the same thing could be said about U2 and Wire."
Another Wire member, Emily "Cam" Bua, 17, from Pennsylvania,
says, "It’s a great place to get tickets for concerts, and to
listen to other opinions about U2 music. Then again, it’s also
chock-full o’ crap most of the time."
Wire is comprised of a very diverse, worldwide population. Yet
it remains to be seen whether it is a perfect reflection of U2’s
true fan base.
"Let’s face it: The Net is still a ‘rich boy’s’ tool," argues
Prarit Bhargava, 25, from Canada, who often compiles the week’s U2
news and organizes it all in a weekly post. "Wire is effectively
losing a large part of U2’s fan base, as the Net is restricted to
those that can afford it."
"The American contingent seems to be the top heavy section,"
admits fan Mike Conway, 31, from Selkirk, N.Y. "But, everyone can
voice their opinions. If anything, the modest fans might be a bit
intimidated by the volume and knowledge base, but there is a core
contingent who encourages new and fresh information and
insight."
Fans often use the Internet to mask their everyday personalities
and become someone else among an audience that will probably never
see them. Others revel in their unabashed honesty. Of course, this
has hellish potentials.
"I think sometimes the non face-to-face communication is good,
and sometimes it is bad," says Dan Anderson, an 18-year-old Boston
University student. "It can easily lead to misunderstandings that
sometimes get ugly, simply because one person writes something, and
another person takes it differently."
"For some people, the ‘mask’ created by the computer and on-line
identity is a release, a way to pour out all the things they have
to internalize for reality’s sake," says Hight. "For others, it’s
an excuse to deny their current identity. It may be lackluster and
disappointing, or they may just want to be someone else for awhile.
It’s almost like being a pop star. You have your stage persona, the
face you put on for public scrutiny. Then there’s the inside
person, the one nobody sees, the one that allows you to take the
mask off and be ‘normal.’"
"It’s also a creative outlet, as well as a place to vent …
sort of a therapy group," says Bua. "That’s what I like about Wire.
Then there’s these so-called "ring leaders" of Wire, like Aingeal
and such. In my honest opinion and experience … they’re not what
they’re cracked up to be. They’re not the demi-gods of the U2
world, they’re just fans like anyone else."
Such colorful personalities, computer masking and shielded
honesty lead to "flame wars." Flaming is known in cyberspace as
blatantly disagreeing with another person in an often harsh and
insulting manner. It may represent the biggest danger with on-line
anonymity. Yet, others find the confrontational aura of flames pure
fun and a savior from typical fan banter.
"They are most entertaining," says Campisi of Wire’s numerous
shouting matches. "Otherwise it’s talk of lemons, quotes, favorite
members or new singles … dead boring."
"(It’s) posturing," says Hight. "People jockeying for position.
Megalomania. Just an extension of the grammar-school playground.
Bleah."
Mail-list managers often must make censorship decisions
regarding certain controversial topics and flame wars. "Yelling and
screaming, bad manners and words are fine with me as long as it’s
within human acceptance," says Bakker. "I delete messages easily,
stating Nazi or discriminating stuff, or promoting sex pages."
On some other music lists, though, flame wars don’t pose such a
problem. "(I’m) currently on Luckytown (Bruce Springsteen’s list)
which has a much ‘older’ feel to it," says Conway. "Not in a bad
way; I just think the majority of Bruce fans are more mature and
laid back — not as much teen angst in that list!"
Most people on a mailing list rarely, if ever, post anything.
The majority of "lurkers" just watch the action and benefit from
those offering free tape copies of shows or selling old copies of
singles and full-length albums.
Others post more than once a day. "I went to four Popmart (U2’s
recent tour) shows and I was no further than 27th row in my worst
seat," says fan Ken Rosenberg, 30, from the Silicon Valley. "Wire
helped me score good seats."
Besides little perks, joining a mailing list may mean making a
lot of friends and acquaintances. "We’ve met literally dozens of
the nicest folks you could imagine," says Conway. He also sees the
worst in the mailing list’s insensitive side. "It’s too easy to be
harsh, and so we see it a lot."